As an example, there is an electric power converter such as an inverter mounted on an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle provided with a plurality of cooling tubes for cooling a semiconductor module by sandwiching it from both sides.
In such an electric power converter, adhesion between the semiconductor module and the cooling tubes is obtained by pressing a stack of the semiconductor module and the cooling tubes in a stacking direction by a pressure member such as a leaf spring.
Further, a structure of stacking a semiconductor module and a reactor together with a plurality of cooling tubes is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4867889.
Then, an electric power converter having a structure that a stack of the semiconductor module, the reactor and the plurality of cooling tubes are pressed in a stacking direction by a pressure member is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4867889.
However, the following problems exist in the electric power converter of the above-described structure.
That is, according to the pressure structure of the above, a pressing force acting on the reactor and a pressing force acting on the semiconductor module becomes equivalent.
However, cooling of the reactor is not required as a cooling of the semiconductor module.
Therefore, it is preferable to reduce a contact pressure between the reactor and the cooling tubes compared with a contact pressure between the semiconductor module and the cooling tubes.
This is because, if the pressing force acting on the reactor is larger than necessary, a withstand load required for the reactor becomes large, and there is a risk that the reactor becomes large and heavy.
As a result, it can be a factor that inhibits miniaturization and weight reduction of an electric power converter.
Further, when the pressing force acting on the reactor is too large, there is also a risk that it becomes difficult to absorb a thermal expansion and contraction of the reactor by the pressure member.
On the other hand, from a viewpoint of suppressing the temperature of the semiconductor module from increasing, a pressing force of a prescribed level or higher acting on the semiconductor module is required.
Not only limited to the reactor, but a problem similar to the above may occur to other electronic components such as a capacitor, or a DC-DC converter, for example, when a structure of the semiconductor module and the cooling tubes being stacked and pressed together is employed.